1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a non-transitory recording medium storing an image processing program.
2. Background Art
There are image processing apparatuses that digitize audio using an audio input unit such as a microphone, convert it into audio data, add the converted audio data to image data, output the result to other apparatuses via a network, and store the converted audio data in storage devices.
In such image processing apparatuses, audio data is used for adding information such as explanations to the image data, and it is common to digitize audio while the image data is digitized. However, if the image processing apparatus is operating at that time, operating noise and background noise are mixed into the digitized audio, degrading the clarity of the audio data.
To cope with this issue, a facsimile machine that can record and play back audio, stops mechanisms from operating during recording of the audio, and restarts those mechanisms when recording of the audio is finished has been proposed. Thus, for example, an output unit that outputs the received data, a scanner that scans documents, and a controller that controls a fan for cooling the interior of the machine are all paused during recording and restarted when recording is completed, and the stored received data is output.
In the technology described above, an operation of a driving system in the facsimile machine as the image processing apparatus is stopped, and operation is restarted after finishing recording audio. Therefore, operations of the image processing apparatus, such as image scanning and image outputting, etc., are stopped while recording audio, but at the cost of degrading utilization efficiency of the image processing apparatus.